Perhaps you are asking yourself: How can that possibly happen? We ask another question: Must it be like that?

There are tried and proven models which will help to get a firm grip on product management. Projects for the redesign of procedures and processes urgently require the utilization of procedural models, especially for more complex tasks, if the desired results are to be achieved while still staying within the boundaries of the planned resources.

After all, a successful product launch creates room for product adaptations and innovations in the future. Standards for this purpose which have demonstrated their value and which interact well with one another have become established on the market. When used properly, these standards increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the course of processes in the company, rescuing it from overlong product development cycles.

Procedural model = procedure + model

The primary goal of any model is nothing else than the goal-oriented simplification and mirroring of reality. It must be absolutely clear to everyone that models do not make any explicit claims to completeness and general validity; they are dependent on specific assumptions. George E. P. Box had plenty of reasons for describing models like this: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.”

It is not at all unusual to see analyses and the derived concepts and strategies disappear into management’s desk drawers and never be implemented. What steps are necessary to turn theoretical models into reality? The answer is obvious: if a model is to be set in “motion”, the methods and working materials of a model must be illustrated, described, and integrated into a procedural model. In other words, the focus of consideration is on the description of a general consequence of the activities.

A procedural model encompasses method and tool allocations, process and role assignments, as well as the project management. Since every problem is unique, every project contains a factor of uncertainty during the course of the project a deviation from planning is virtually assured. This is why procedural models are popular in project management: they provide guidelines, enhance them with accompanying documents such as plans, templates, and checklists, reduce the complexity of decisions, and contain clear instructions for action.

It goes without saying that a given procedural model will not be suitable for use in every organization without more detailed analyses and adaptations – there is no panacea here for a specific problem. Just as in medicine, an individual solution is required. A specific procedural model serves more as orientation for complex problems and as a guide to the problem solution. The question about the adaptation of the procedural model is relatively extensive. It requires comprehensive experience to come up with the design for the best possible path – fast, low-cost, and effective – to the project goal. There can be no doubt that experienced experts, capable of carrying out adaptations, are required to operationalize a procedural model.    
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